Cavan McLaughlin

This talk offers a practitioner-scholar reflection on the ritual use of sexual fluids—particularly semen—in contemporary magical contexts, drawing from personal experience with chaos magic sigilisation, Thelemic Eucharistic rites (Cakes of Light), and long-term ritual chastity. These practices, while diverse in technique and intent, all engage with the ontological and symbolic potency of sexual emissions, or their absence, as agents of transformation and “alienated agency”—estranged from their biological function and (re-)charged with magical intentionality. These rituals are framed as occultural events, where the erotic body emerges as a generative site of meaning, manifestation, and what I term “weird worlding”.

Cavan McLaughlin is a Senior Lecturer in Media Production at the University of the West of England (UWE), researching in the emerging (sub)field of occultural studies. Editor of the volume Trans- States: The Art of Crossing Over (2019), Trans- States: The Art of Crossing Over (2019), Cavan has also published on Crowley, esotericism and narrativity, open-source occultism, and contemporary occulture. Recently completing a practice-based PhD entitled ‘Occultural Production as Re-Vision and Weird Worlding’, they remain a practicing filmmaker, artist, and all-around creative media practitioner. As a media professional of over twenty years, Cavan has been involved in almost all aspects of audiovisual production, specialising in video art, music videos, and visual poetry. Cavan is the founder and Chair of Trans- States (trans-states.org); co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Monad: Journal of Occultural Studies (monadjournal.com); and a trustee of the Research Network for the Study of Esoteric Practices (www.rensep.org). Cavan has a profound affection for cows, fungi, and rainbows.

Founder and Chair at trans-states.org
Creative Director of occultural.net
Editor-in-Chief at monadjournal.com